To a lonely sky
by Scalacia
Summary: AU, FEM!Tsuna. It just wasn't worth it anymore, and she knew she had to leave, sooner or later. Stuff happens, Blackjacket comes and then she wanted to fight, so to heck with anyone who would try to stop her. What can she say? It's incredible how a life changes. First fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

CONFIDENTIAL

Name: Sawada Tsunaki  
Age: 16 years  
Status: Neglected, soon dying

The man chuckled, and threw the file aside, hearing the papers flutter. He didn't need to read more.

His calculating eyes surveyed the chess board in front. The pitch black and deathly silent room pressed in, forcing the two candles sitting across from the mahogany board to flicker quietly, as if all sound has been absorbed in the darkness.

Those mismatched eyes looked up to examine their blank faced opponent, revealing a perfectly chiselled face that was still handsome despite the horrors it had seen. A lazy smirk grew on his face, and the face once again lowered down to regard the board, chin lethargically propped up on a fist. He rather liked chess, he decided.

In chess, white pieces generally went first.

But in life, no one played by the rules.

He smirked. "Kufufu…" he chuckled, long, elegant fingers stretching out and nudging a black pawn onwards two steps. "What will you do once the first move is made?"The man looked the file that had been thrown carelessly onto the opposite chair.

"Tsunaki?"

* * *

CHAPTER 1

"Tsunaki! Get down here!"

Tsunaki sighed, tearing her gaze away from the window. Brown locks tumbled down in small cascades a little past her shoulders, framing a fair face that despite its youth bore small creases of worry, while her amber eyes were dulled from their previous gold.

Tsunaki padded towards the combined kitchen and dining in the house that she and her older sister shared, automatically wiping away the dust on the table. She withdrew her hand and dully glanced at her palm. Rough, calloused, strong, like her father's, who went away seven years ago. He said that he would only be gone for a bit, but he never returned.

What a father.

If her hands were her father's then her feet were her mother's, muscles strengthened by days of hard walking and running for her life. Her mother was a strong woman, and refused to accept that he was gone. She followed him five days after he was supposed to return into the very same forest, determined to bring him back, rebuking everyone's calls for her to stay.

She disappeared also.

Tsunaki scowled, and tugged at her hair. It was all these eyes' fault. If only they didn't have to be so unnatural. Like seriously. Gold. Really? No wonder everyone thought she was a demon child.

She trudged into the kitchen and sighed. A palm immediately flew up to slap her cheek, leaving it stinging red.

"Tsunaki! Stop your idling around and sit! To think that I actually bothered to prepare breakfast for such an unappreciative runt like you. I can't believe I allowed myhappy mood to influence my opinion on your scrawny self. Why don't you go and get lost already? It'll be one less problem for me to deal with". Tsunaki frowned at the face of her cousin, Bianchi, whose startling grass green eyes flashed with annoyance once again. Her pale red hair almost seemed eerie in the relative darkness of the cabin.

"Oh hurry up! Anyway, don't expect me back for lunch or dinner, so fix your own food. And remember to do your chores. Old Marge expects you to wash and return her clothes after she just grabbed me the other day and dumped a load of stinking fabrics on me! The nerve of that witch! You won't believe how many times I suggested that she be burned at the stake. Oh, and don't forget to buy some trinkets today. Emeralds would be the best because they go with my eyes, but of course, _you_ wouldn't be able to understand. I'm going to a party at Romeo's and people expect me to bring something. Don't even think about using my money".

Bianchi grabbed her woollen cardigan and paced to the door, wasting no time heaving it open and slamming it behind her, leaving behind silence and a virtually empty cabin.

Tsunaki sighed, and stared at the single piece of stale bread on her plate, accompanied with two miniscule berries that were obviously unripe.

"Thanks", she drawled sarcastically.

* * *

The town bustled with colour and noise. There was sound everywhere, but it only ended up irritating Tsunaki like a fly's buzzing would.

She smirked to herself. Maybe other humans were just like flies. Annoying, persistent and intent on making her life a misery.

She sidestepped another man with an armful of his pies, enthusiastically advertising them to the public. _There goes one of my eardrums._ Shaking her head, she kept to the side of the crowd, restlessly shifting the washing basket from her right to her left. She just had to return Old Marge's clothes, and then it wouldn't be any of her business.

' _This is what I've been reduced to'_ Tsunaki paced along with subdued eyes. _'Friends have each other, while even enemies have someone to spar with. I have no one. Good job, Tsunaki. Good job.'_ The girl looked to the skies, and saw two skylarks flying overhead, looking like they were mingling with the clouds and singing to the sky to cheer her up. She felt the faintest smile tug at the corner of her mouth as they flew past her, but as soon as the smile came, it left.

Tsunaki walked a few steps before letting out a yelp as a splinter found its way into her finger. Belatedly, she realised that the washing basket she was delivering was groaning pitifully under her wrath. Small cracks were starting to form from her white knuckled grip, and it would be tedious to purchase another basket with her limited money. She scoffed. _More like nonexistent money._ Sighing, she loosened her clenched fist, and once again shifted it to her left side.

Yah... it seemed that everything besides the animals hated her. What did she ever do to anyone to deserve this hate?

Tsunaki snorted.

Go on. Go and trample my reputation with your feet and to stand on my bleeding body to alleviate yours, and see if I care.

A movement caught her peripheral, and she turned her head towards the silversmith's stall, where the smithy was chatting amicably to his customer, who had handed over a silver necklace for adjustment. However, if she looked harder, his hands were hard at work in the dark under the counter, stealing a few loops off the necklace, all while sporting a totally extroverted expression on his face.

She could only wonder how much practise must have gone into perfecting that fake smile.

This was the result of the cruel streak that had entered and churned within each of her race's hearts, shining like a dark light.

 _After all, I do see its greatest result staring up at me every day as I look down upon the river._

Tsunaki wandered away from the busy town square to Old Marge's house. The babble eventually faded behind her, and she heaved a shaking sigh of relief to the quiet that accompanied the woods.

A smile flitted onto her face.

She could never stay resentful in the presence of ancient trees which had seen events countless times longer than her own life. Tsunaki frowned, and muttered "I hope I don't jinx it".

Well.

Too late.

A pained cry pierced the thin film of supposed tranquillity that erupted as soon as the first sound left. Tsunaki yelped, and fumbled with the wash basket, dropping it to the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that the clothes were undamaged, and then started panning her head around for the source of the cry. The scream resounded again, and Tsunaki took off towards its direction, uncaring of the countless twigs that whipped against her face.

She needed not run for long.

To her far left, she regarded with horror a burly man, face scrunched up in a soundless snarl, greasy hands enveloping a struggling crow. The crow was trying its best to flee, feathers already littering the floor and legs scratching and kicking. But what was most repulsing of all was the knife that the man held in his right hand that he was slowly succeeding in bringing down upon the crow.

 _No, he couldn't do this._

Tsunaki vaguely felt her feet turning and carrying her towards the scene, her soft footsteps pattering on the harsh debris. But just as quickly as her movement started, they lurched to a stop, and her bangs shadowed her lowered face, body still like a rock, foot poised as if to take another step forward.

 _I was weary of the pain that would come if I was caught doing yet another 'useless' act._

 _No. I was afraid._

Her eyes grew dark and hollow, and she gasped as a sudden sensation flooded her being, while one of her memories involuntarily triggered and dominated her mind.

 _I could feel the sting on my cheek, the abruptness of the kick, the sudden impact as my knees gave way under me and smashed pitifully on the jagged ground. Beside me was an abandoned squirrel pup, newly born and shivering within the familiar thin, chequered scarf wrapped around it._

 _I couldn't hear anything, think anything._

 _But as I blearily looked past the thugs and scowled up into the flawless face of the person who had made my life a burning misery, I saw her mouth two words – two words that had followed me over the years, two words that, despite my outward indifference, cut a gaping rift inside my heart._

 _Useless child._

The words reverberated within Tsunaki like a haunting catcall, masking the last of the man's heavy footfalls receding away. As she once again looked upon the scene, her eyes grew wide. She felt her insides convulse and her chest clench, and shook, wishing she would have done something that may have brought herself pain but might have saved an innocent life. Bile built up in her throat while a small sound escaped her, and she cupped both hands around her mouth in an attempt to keep it down. Tsunaki barely registered her legs giving way under herself as she sank numbly to the ground.

The man was gone.

And so gone was the crow's right wing.

No.

An animal was about to die before her eyes, and she was going to do nothing about it.

Shit.

No bird could fly with a missing wing, leaving it with no means to gain prey.

Effing hell.

The crow was about to _die_ , agonizingly and slowly, condemned out of annoyance. And the pain, oh the _pain_ that it must have felt that was evident through its once proud but now broken eyes… Tsunaki felt her shatter with each fluctuating gush of thick, copper liquid spurted out of the wound as the crow limped away in vain to reach the cover of an ash tree, as if its mere presence would heal it once more.

So what if crows were pests and ate practically one grain out the village harvest? Are people oblivious to an animal's right to life? Or do they simply decide to bestow this one crow out of thousands a blow that judges life or death?

"Demo..." Amber eyes stared down at trembling hands and the well worn track. "The crow has more strength than I ever will, despite the... extraordinarily similar circumstances..."

She could do nothing to help.

She couldn't interfere and draw attention to herself.

Conscious of the pleading eyes upon her, Tsunaki grimaced and continued down the trail, propping herself up with a hand upon a bent knee. Old Marge's jostled clothes that used to be folded neatly in the cold wooden basket felt heavy in her hands. Fists clenched, she forced her feet to move, move away from the stare on her back and towards the guilt that tugs at her heartstrings the further she walks.

They would _always_ know when she did another 'worthless deed'. And _they_ would make her pay for it.

Every single time.

It was as if the whole world was against her, no matter which way she walked.

 _She was thrown onto a lonely road with high walls, a stone bocking the intersection and no end._


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Old Marge's cottage had a low hung thatched roof, eaves drooping over the door. Two windows had been cut into the wattle and daub bricks so that they resembled eyes, with the slowly rotting misshapen door as a gaping mouth. Resting the washing basket on her hip, Tsunaki raised her hand and cautiously knocked on the door.

Several minutes passed before a patter of footsteps could be heard from within the house before the door was flung wide open, almost slamming in Tsunaki's face had she not backtracked hastily. As she was recovering from her near fall, a wizened, old face dominated her sight, crooked teeth arranged in a way that resembled a ghostly wail. Tsunaki yelped, and tried in vain to blink away the disturbing image that burned in her retinas even as she retraced her steps even more, arms flailing and almost losing grip on the washing basket. A small part of her mind numbly noted that this behaviour wasn't the most polite to demonstrate, but the majority was too shocked to care.

Seconds passed as they remained frozen in their various positions. Old Marge was standing slack outside her home, face contorted into what Tsunaki was sure it had meant to be a welcoming smile rather than the expression of one with gastric problems. Tsunaki herself was tense and braced, holding the washing basket out as if it were some sort of weapon.

More time passed while the air was thick with an awkward silence before Tsunaki released the pent up breath she had not registered herself holding, and properly presented the washing basket to Old Marge, subconsciously holding it an arm's length away, properly composed.

"…"

"…"

Tsunaki noted that her arm was becoming quite tired.

"Your washing… Marge… ma'am?"

A small part of Tsunaki internally quailed when the old woman's previous lacklustre gaze intensified into what seemed like a glare. Her eyes bore holes into Tsunaki's head, scrutinising her, judging her. After what seemed like an age of fearing to move, Old Marge's smile dropped into a scowl. She whipped the basket out of Tsunaki's hands and turned her back on the girl, slamming the door shut with a resounding bang. Not long after, Tsunaki could hear water hammering into the washing basket and the steady slosh of clothes being vigorously rewashed.

Sighing, Tsunaki's shoulders drooped and her expression grew downcast as her feet carried her back home once more. Even Old Marge, one of the more accepting and oblivious people in the village, rejected her presence as if it were foul.

What a game life is. What a twisted game.

Her life was a desert garden with with the plants of opportunity growing, but being burnt to ashes by the sun before they even begin to show signs of blooming.

Tsunaki sighed as she walked to a stop on the road as this morning's events replayed in her mind. Bianchi was asked to Romeo's party and felt obliged to have her buy another one of her worthless trinkets in a fit to impress a boyfriend who she doesn't even like. She shook her head. Bianchi _knew_ she had nothing to exchange for jewellery except for manual labour. Tsunaki saw another week of cleaning pig pens looming ahead of her.

If the perpetual assignment to _pig pens_ was life, then she was better off without it, huh. If only she could untie the string connecting her to her kinsmen who dragged her wherever they wanted to go.

But then what would she do? Although the string meant oppression, it also posed as a line of safety, drawing her nearer to a group. If the knot was unravelled, she would be on her own until she joins a friendlier string or iron shackled are clasped onto her. She may condemn herself to an existence worse than this one.

 _Was the risk worth it?_

 _Was life worth it?_

* * *

Gagged by oppression,  
Subdued by fear,

Tsunaki flung open the wooden cabin door, and after a moment of wild scanning, growled and rushed back outside to the lean-to shed. After fumbling about with the rusting lock, the door swung open to reveal a dusty interior, contents of which have had their warmth of familiar touch long gone.

Branded by spite,  
Nothing was clear.

Small piles of foreign oddities sat on the shelves, overturned in Tsunaki's frantic search. A curious lobed leaf and the rock that resembled a dagger went flying through the air as the products of an elbow sweep as if they were worthless.

They were once anything but to her. They still were.

These artefacts were what her father brought back on his many trips to find odd jobs in other villages. But what used to be entertaining and exciting is now a trigger for painful memories. Too painful to bear.

Years of torment,  
A never-ending chase,

Muffling a curse as she accidentally tripped, Tsunaki was about the kick the item aside before she hurriedly reined herself in. A wry smile graced her features as she picked the item up. Father's old collapsible tent. Quickly gathering it up, she rose to her feet, before wincing and pressing a hand to her side.

That'll leave a mark.

Wraps paper hearts  
Made of broken lace.

Blundering out of the lean-to, she hurriedly fixed the lock back on before rushing across to the back of the cabin where they kept the game bag. Unhooking it off the peg it was tied onto, she scrambled towards the weathered canvas canteen that rested on the tree stump they used as a seat and threw it into the bag before hastening to the front door again. She would fill it later.

But as the flightless bird grew wings,  
And climbs above the sky's blue rings,

Inside, Tsunaki's hand shot out and grabbed various food items from the larder. Two breads, one aging towards stale, a few pieces of fruit, a sliver of cold chicken and a lump of cheese. It would do. She knew how to hunt. Her eyes flickered to the slightly ajar front door, keeping check. Good. There was no one. She paced into Bianchi's corner of the cabin, slightly fenced off by floor to ceiling wooden palings. What used to be her parents' corner used to house laughter and warmth as the four of them gathered there every night was now drastically changed. She couldn't help but wince.

It surveys the reaching tendrils below,  
And doubted its strength to soar and go.

Falling on all fours, Tsunaki reached under the bed, brushing away several cobwebs. Her searching hands eventually landed on a wooden box, and Tsunaki's eyes widened, before narrowing in determination. Here it was. Taking a sweeping look at all she had collected around the house, such a _meagre_ amount (so meagre)… she grit her teeth and prepared yet again to pull the box out before tears she had not known rolled down her cheeks, stopping her short in her actions. Was she ready for all this yet?

And so she fell, down to the ground,  
Faith's hand has left, only dread she had found,

Tsunaki furiously rubbed them away, and berated herself for her indecision and wasting time, time that would have allowed her to escape into the forest before the heat of noon hit, allowing her a longer while yet for travel. Steeling herself, she yanked the box out from under the bed and ripped the lid off, grabbing the hunting bow from where it lay inside and tried to reach for the quiver…

Why wasn't she reaching it?

Her eyes widened as she only just realised her shaking hands and wrenching sobs. Her right hand slipped and dropped the bow onto her lap even as she buried her face into the bedpost. Why did she have to do this? Why her, _why her?_ Shutting out all worldly noises from her mind, Tsunaki did not register the footsteps that rang out a few minutes later, and so nothing prepared her for the abrupt and sudden pain in her thigh that followed, nor the wrestling pull in her hair that forced her face upwards into green eyes…

And while she lay there still and stunned,  
Her lungs yearning for the cool air, shunned,

The green eyes of her sister.

Her eyes began to fill with tears,  
A river cried from darkest fears.

Bianchi scowled, and slapped Tsunaki across the face that left her recoiling on the floor, shuddering. Why did she decide this? It was so stupid of her. Why didn't she remain silent, and continue on with the drudgery she was doing before. It was only going to get worse now.

Bianchi screamed in fury.

"You stupid, wretched girl! What is this? Are we not enough for you? Is your cousin not enough? You're just so arrogant and selfish that you want to run away and abandon everyone you grew up with! You're a nobody, you'll always be a nobody, and you'll be an even bigger one when you die outside, where not even a single worm would want to touch your corpse! You're a pathetic excuse for a human, no, even if you were an animal, you'll still be scum!" Bianchi finished, panting and glaring at Tsunaki. "The sky might have pity on you, but I certainly don't! So get out! If you choose to go, then go! Don't ever come back! Go!"

Tsunaki peered at her through her tear-filled eyes. "What?"

"Argh! You're such a harebrained idiot! I said go! Just get out! DON'T COME BACK!"

"D... don't come back?"

"Yes! Are you mentally stunted or something? Geez."

A lull fell in the conversation.

"Now get lost! Go! Never return to the village!"Bianchi aimed a well placed kick to the side Tsunaki's head, and she scrambled to gather all her inventory, cold fingers dropping items in her haste. More kicks came to her back, forearms and legs, which caused her to fall down onto the hard rammed earth floor. Face flowing with tears, Tsunaki ran past the door which closed on her back, shoving her forward a few paces, before it opened again and her favourite jackets was thrown onto the dirty mud floor. Though her eyes were still blinded by sorrow, Tsunaki could plainly see the multiple tears in the fabric that went from the shoulder to the hip that rendered it unrepairable. Choking back another sob, she ran back and collected the threadbare jacket in her arms, using it to wrap the rest of her materials into a more manageable bundle, before she ran through the village and into the forest. She had lost count of the times she fell in her rush, but matters like that were inconsequential.

She didn't care anymore.

Dirty looks were thrown her way as the villagers saw a ragged urchin falling to her knees more times than she ran, hair matted by dirt and eyes red with the effort of crying. A man's bow, unfit for a woman, dwarfed her figure as she slung it upon her shoulder with a matching quiver, almost half the arrows lost in her haste. After a few seconds, this scene no longer interested them, and they rejoined their previous conversations with the same enthusiasm as they had before.

Good riddance.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Tsunaki fell to her knees in the forest and sobbed, tears rolling down her face and dripping to the floor. The piece of forest she was in was less dense than usual due to the trees being cleared out for firewood, and thus the strong midday sunlight was still battering down. She entertained the thought of the sunlight having intentions in warming her up, but she quickly dismissed the thought.

The light only helped her tears stand out.

Mou… it was so unfair. Why now of all times, when she had prepared to sneak away, had her dignity be caught and stamped to the ground like a worthless addition to her persona?

Maybe it was.

Upon that thought, more tears welled up, and Tsunaki yelled. She punched the tree behind her with more force than necessary, and began pounding it until her knuckles turned red and the skin began to split. Punching it one last time, her strength suddenly failed her, and she collapsed into a heap at the tree's base. She gritted her teeth at the pain that rocketed through her body from her fists, but she couldn't bring herself to pay it any mind.

Was it too much to ask for to let her control her own life for once?

She grabbed a fistful of hair, and sank so her back lay on the ground. She forced herself to stare directly at the sun, unmindful of its powerful rays. She tossed, and laid on her front.

Then side.

Then on the other side.

Then back.

Front.

Side.

Front

Back.

Tsunaki screamed another time, and rammed her fists on the ground. She cursed her weak self. She was getting nothing done sitting here like a pathetic child. She was morphing into her village's view on her.

That was not what she was like.

Right?

Heaving another wracking sigh, Tsunaki forced herself to crouch and organise her equipment which had fallen into disarray. Frustrated, she fumbled with them for a few minutes before sucking in a huge breath, then organising everything in the time it took to get the breath out. She regarded her handiwork with a speculative eye.

It'll do.

Shouldering them into her makeshift jacket-bag, she allowed some time for the sudden wave of dizziness from standing up disappear and the black spots to fade before trudging away to the direction of the stream.

Tsunaki walked for several hours at a time, occasionally filling her water canteen from the river she eventually found, before she was forced to stop by the twilight glow that was appearing on the skyline. She half-heartedly found a few pieces of firewood, set up camp and then turned in for the night.

The last of the sun's rays left the horizon, and the clouds rolled in from the east, looking as if it was climbing higher to touch the sky.

An owl somewhere hooted its melancholy song, as if mourning for itself.

A flock of sparrows flittered from one tree, only to rest in another one nearby.

The owl hooted again.

In the shadow of a large elm tree, a muffled voice cried out in what they thought was a whisper. "Hey. Is it time? Do we go get 'em now?"

Another voice stage-whispered. "Yeah, I think so. Let's show them who's boss!"

Behind another tree a few paces off, Hibari's eye twitched. Idiots, the lot of them. Why did he put up with this? He returned his attention to the one-man tent, set up a little way off from the dying flames of the meagre campfire.

He raised an eyebrow. The fire looked so half-heartedly made. Hm.

He flicked away the thought and signalled his subordinates to approach.

The barn owl blinked as it saw all this from its hollow, but dismissed it, content to hoot again.

Tsunaki rolled over in her sleep and awoke suddenly, blinking quickly. Her Hyper Intuition pinged furiously, making her heart jump to her throat. The warning levels had never been this high before. She strained her ears to pick out anything out of the ordinary that could be a potential threat. Her fingers curled around her unstringed bow, hoping to use it as some sort of polearm. She gulped, and slowly rose to her feet.

She almost let out a sound as she saw a silhouette of a man briefly illuminated on her tent canvas from the still flickering flames before disappearing. There was a mutter outside, perhaps two or three voices. Her stomach clenched, and she readied herself, stooping in a tense fighting stance, bow held awkwardly in her hand. It wasn't much, but it was all she had.

A few minutes passed.

Her leg muscles started to ache from their forcedly crouched position.

Her arms started to quiver as the bow suddenly felt ten times heavier, but Tsunaki narrowed her eyes in determination.

She was ready for this.

The silhouette appeared again, pausing at the entrance, and before Tsunaki had time to think, a hand and a face pushed its way through the flap of the tent.

Oh man. Nope. She was so _not_ ready for this.

Tsunaki's eyes widened before the tent exploded into a flurry of action. She made to initially lunge forward and clobber him over the head, but yelped when she saw he was holding a knife. ' _Oh kami-sama, he has a freaking_ knife. _Am I going to die here? After running away, is this my freedom?'_ Tsunaki's eyes started filling with tears for the umpteenth time in the last 24 hours, and she crumpled to the floor, giving up on herself before she spends more energy on fighting a vain fight.

She raised her head upwards. "HIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed with all the power in her lungs, and threw her bow at the man out of spite more than self protection.

The man lurched backwards at the ear-splitting _girly_ scream that did more damage than the little stick she threw ever would. He shook his head to get clear of it, and was about to approach once more before a strong hand clutched onto his collar and throw him outside.

Hibari witnessed the whole scene with contempt. It was a _herbivore_ in the tent, and his subordinate still couldn't get rid of it. After seeing the unstringed bow being thrown at the idiot, he reckoned that the herbivore had no more weapons in store, though the scream was a halfway potent one. Striding over to the scene with elegant steps, he hauled the man out of the way and grabbed the herbivore by the arm, dragging her out of the tent, hand on her forearm.

Tsunaki furrowed her brows as she felt her attacker being pulled away, but then winced at the new iron grip on her arm that pulled her out of the tent. She shivered due to the cold night air, and then raised her head to regard her captor.

He was wearing a soft white cotton shirt behind an un-creased black hunting jacket draped over his shoulders. His dark trousers seemed comfortable, yet durable, while a black leather belt was wrapped around his hips. Tsunaki panned her vision upwards, and her eyes widened fractionally. Silky black hair waved slightly in the wind, forming an M shape that rose a little above his eyes, no doubt for the purpose of not obstructing his vision, while a little cowlick was present at the side of his head, something that Tsunaki found sort of… cute. His blue-grey eyes held so many undecipherable emotions that seemed to clash with each other beneath that nonplussed gaze. His flawless skin was pale, and a smirk hid on the corner of his lips.

A few seconds of strong staring passed before her face flushed brilliantly, and she lowered her head, pretending to wipe away her tears in order to hide her flaming cheeks. _Man… he was hot…_ Her eyes widened, and she mentally slapped herself! _Baka Tsunaki! Baka, baka, baka! He just captured you and you're thinking about how attractive he is?_

 _But…_

Her mental chibi self jumped up and down in frustration. _He's no good! Did you not see the weapons in his hands? Tonfas, Tsunaki! Tonfas!_

Tsunaki frowned. _Of course I did, I was the one who registered it after all. Aish, I'm talking to myself. I think I'm going crazy._ She sighed. _Blackjacket looks perfect._

Her chibi self frowned. _Blackjacket? Yah, none of my business about your_ terribly _imaginative names. And him being perfect, what? If only he wasn't a sadist, psychopath, kidnapper and a serial killer, hm? Of course he'd be perfect then. But guess what Tsunaki, baka baka? He's going to kill you, so too bad about his being_ perfect.

Tsunaki sighed, then giggled. This situation was too tense for her to think straight.

Hibari looked on at his captive, dumbstruck, though he'd never admit it, of course. Why on earth did she just giggle? Was she not afraid of him? Was she… he took a look at her rather red ears.

 _Well…_

"Herbivore".

Tsunaki raised her head, red cheeks gone. "Eh?"

Hibari regarded her coldly, before turning his head away.

"Tch". Tsunaki grimaced at this. "Tetsu. Take her away".

"D-demo…" Hibari silenced her with a sharp glare, and Tsunaki bit her lip, mentally kicking herself.

A man with a pompadour came up to Hibari and bowed, leading her away from her campsite and further into the woods. He seemed to know where to go. Tsunaki stayed silent, stealing a few glances at this new person, half hurt at how easily she was dismissed, half relieved to be out of Blackjacket's intense stare. The new man sported an enormous pompadour and seemed less intimidating than Blackjacket, like the type of person to be genuinely nice, but Tsunaki didn't trust her reckoning skills anymore. They seemed to be seriously off lately.

She focused her gaze on the forest floor, and felt the sting of tears rise back into play. She was such a crybaby, and she hated herself for it, valiantly trying to keep back the tears to no avail, though a little sniff went past her defences.

Then a thousand questions rose up. Where was she going to go? Why is everyone determined to mess around with her life? Tsunaki swallowed them back down, and focussed on a safer one to ask.

"A-ano… mister… where are we g-going?"

The pompadour man looked at her. "Camp".

"A-ah. Sou".

A moment of silence elapsed again.

"Who was that guy back there?" Tsunaki ventured out.

"Why do you ask?"

Tsunaki quailed. "N-no, don't worry. It was a s-stupid question".

Kusakabe Testuya saw how frightened she was, and internally sighed. Really. He was already so nice to her, a complete stranger. Any nicer and he deserves an award. Why was she scared anyway?

He conveniently overlooked the fact that they had just basically manhandled her out of her little bubble and that she had every right to be horrified.

"Do you really want to know?"

Tsunaki snapped her head up, surprised. She was sure he was going to ignore her for the rest of eternity. She nodded her head slowly.

"His name is Hibari Kyoya. He's the one who leads raids like these and formed our group."

Tsunaki interjected. "Group?"

Kusakabe gave her a pointed look. What was with these guys and glares, anyway? "Don't inquire".

Tsunaki flinched. "I'm sorry". Kusakabe let it slide.

"Anyway, he's our leader, so the rest of us just follow whatever he says of does whatever he wants done". Kusakabe looked at Tsunaki, who was following his every word. "You seem pretty interested. Care to explain why?" A note of protectiveness crept into his voice, like he was discussing matters about his younger brother.

Tsuanki yelped, and tripped.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Her finger twitched.

Kusakabe sighed, and reached down to pull her up. She accepted the help gratefully, but let out a soft 'hiee' when her feet left the ground completely and was suspended, hovering, by the strength of one hand alone.

"…"

"…"

Kusakabe muttered, and set her down. "I thought you were taller".

Tsunaki let out a small puff of air and tried to school her expressions back to blank and depressed, though a small part of her was secretly offended at the indirect insult. The majority of her was on high panic alert about how easily she was relaxing around this dodgy pompadour guy.

"Ano, I don't think I ever caught your name, or introduced mine. I'm Sawada Tsunaki".

Kusakabe snorted. "Well, I guess before, I didn't deem it necessary for me to know your name or you to know mine".

Tsunaki flinched. Of course. What was she thinking, that after one polite gesture he would want to know anything about her?

"But I suppose, now I do", Kusakabe continued, causing Tsunaki to start. "I'm Kusakabe. Kusakabe Tetsuya. Kyo-san's…" He paused, and chuckled. "… Right hand man. Of a sort".

Tsunaki smiled. It was a faint one, one too infrequently used to hold much brilliance, but it was there, filled with too many emotions bubbling up.

"Hajimemashite, Kusakabe-san".


End file.
